Mohali suffocating under garbage, but no sight of waste mgmt plant at Samgoli

Hindustan Times

28-07-2025

Even as Mohali grapples with a growing solid waste crisis, the much-needed Solid Waste Management Project at Samgoli in Dera Bassi remains entangled in bureaucratic red tape. After years of delay, the municipal corporation (MC) has established two waste management facilities at Shahimajra and Jagatpura. (HT Photo)
Land for the project was allotted in 2012. But 13 years later, the project remains hanging in balance, leaving the city choking under mounds of unprocessed garbage and denting its Swachh Survekshan score each year.
Stinking heaps have become landmarks across neighbourhoods, drawing flies and stray animals, much to residents' dismay.
Housing a population of 2.3 lakh, Mohali generates around 150 tonnes of waste daily. But shockingly, it still lacks a permanent mechanism for processing the garbage.
After years of delay, the municipal corporation (MC) has established two waste management facilities at Shahimajra and Jagatpura. But despite sheds and machinery in place, both plants remain non-functional.
The Shahimajra plant has a processing capacity of 40 tonnes per day, while the Jagatpura facility can handle 80 tonnes.
Land acquisition hanging fire, no access road
Records show that in 2012, the Punjab government planned to acquire 50 acres for the Samgoli project, as a solution to Mohali's garbage woes. However, only 39 acres were acquired by the local bodies department in 2013, with the remaining 11 acres are still pending with the revenue department.
A boundary wall was constructed at a cost of ₹35 lakh, and the initial plan was for Mohali MC to build a Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) plant. When no private players submitted bids, the matter was handed over to the local bodies department.
The department later involved HPCL and GAIL for technical inspection, with HPCL preparing an estimate of ₹27 crore for the CBG plant. The company also demanded road access and wrote to the tehsildar in May last year for land demarcation.
A follow-up letter was sent to the department of rural development and panchayati raj in July 2024, which approved road construction at an estimated cost of ₹29 crore. However, the project, to be implemented under the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Corporation (PMIDC), has been awaiting clearance from the head office since March 2025.
City mayor Amarjit Singh Sidhu said, 'We have already written to the local bodies department to expedite the project. Mohali is overwhelmed by solid waste in the absence of proper processing mechanism. As a result, garbage piles are spreading across the city, posing serious health risks,' he said.
'There is no official dumping ground. Waste is being randomly dumped at RMC collection points. Residents are living in miserable, unhygienic conditions, while the government is dilly-dallying on the matter,' Sidhu added.
Sucha Singh Kalaur, president of the Sector 76-80 Plot Allotment Welfare Committee, also criticised the state government: 'The city has gone to the dogs. Heaps of garbage and foul smells are everywhere. This is the so-called 'Future City' they promised?'
The mounting crisis has been reflected in national cleanliness rankings as well. In the Swachh Survekshan results announced on July 17, Mohali slipped to 128th place among 903 cities (with populations between 50,000 and 3 lakh), down from 82nd last year. Within Punjab, the city dropped to 11th place among 35 cities, a stark fall from its first-place ranking last year among cities with populations over 1 lakh.